The Prez Scores Mightily In Europe

After all the fatuous statements by pundits regarding Prez Obama's failure to achieve much success after his kiss-and-makeup tour with European leaders, it's pretty clear that he got what he went after....a starting point for continued dialogue; a promise to meet often; a vow to really listen.

The talking heads on the conservative radio/TV programs went after the Prez with hammer and tongs basically saying he didn't have a spine and that wimpy Euro leaders couldn't bring much muscle in the World Wrestling Arena on Nuclear Power. They hinted that he should stop Kim ll sung and that we would be absolutely stupid to drop production of the long-range interceptor missiles, never mind the fact that such hubris could easily create another scary brinkmanship campaign that kept this nation on edge during the Cold War that almost went hot.

I'm in the Obama's camp on this one. It took us eight years to totally incense the European nations. Eight years of referring to them as cheese eaters, monkeys, wimps, etc., we shouldn't expect them to trust us overnight. Just because we have a new man in the White House doesn't mean they are ready to embrace him until they know what he's up to and developing trust doesn't come with a social visit.